Coin changer



Jan. 5, 1932. c. B. MAY 1,889,885

COIN CHANGER Filed July 12, 1 929 3 Sheets-Sheet l 1 X E If f e E13 .1. J5

9 BY @4m/8 ATTORNEY C. B. MAY

COIN CHANGER Jan. 5, 1932.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 12, 1929 INVENTOR ZM$ ATTORNEY Jan. 5, 1932. Q 3 MAY I 1,839,885

COIN CHANGER Filed July 12, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 m??? I Q Fig-1 I I P fl :1 G I INVENTOR Y 64% 9;? wa

ATTORN EY.

Patented Jan. 5, 1932 Lssasss onARLnsB. MAY,OF sr. LOUIS, MISSOURI 1 com CHANGER Application filed July 12,

This invention relates to certain new and useful lmprovementsin coin changers, the

peculiarities of which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

5 The main objects of this invention are to give the correct change in coin automatically after pressing the cash received key and the key representing the sale; secondly, to make correct change of coin received when no sale is made; thirdly, to avoid errors in making change which is often the case when addition or subtraction mustbe made in the mind of the clerk who receives the cash and gives the change; fourthly, to give exact and correct denominations of coin change from one cent up to one dollar without mental effort of the clerk making the change; fifthly; to save time in making change; siXthly, to provide a device that is not readily tampered with or put out of order under proper'manipulation; and seventhly, to provide other operations and special construction hereinafter described and claimed. 1

In stores where the clerks are young and inexperienced, errors are likely to be made by them in making change, and provision has previously been made to use cash registers to record such sales, and indicate by whom the change was made,such as providing a cash register for use by a number of clerks and having in such register a number of compartments respectively assigned to'each clerk, as by such means any error made by the clerks can be more readily identified.

My device however, is desi ned to eliminate errors in making change in coin, so that one of my machines may be safely used by any number of clerks.

The general operation of the machine is as follows A .key is pressed representing the cash received; another key is pressed rep-- resenting the sale; actuating means, such as a bar pushed forward, willthereupon present the correct change tothe purchaser in do this without error or mistake on the part of the operator, as will hereinafter be fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings in which like letters indicate corresponding parts, e

the proper denomination of'coins and will In. 1. this firstltube is shown in. section 1 0 1929. Serial N0. 377,737.

Fig. 1 represents a plan view ofa machine embodying my inventionwith the cover removed; I

Fig. 2, a side view of the same with the side casing removed and cover in section;

Fig. 3, a front view of the machine;

Fig. l, a cross-section on the line l -at of Fig. 1 showing cash keys in normal position;

Fig. 5, a cross-sectionon the line 5.5 of- Fig. 1 showing sale keys in normal position;

Fig. 6, a cross-section similar to Fig. 41 showing a .10 cash key raised;

Fig. 7 a view similar to Fig. 5 showing a Y .05 sale key raised in conjunction with the .10 cash key; and a};

Fig. 8, a longitudinal section on the line 8-8 of Figs. 1, 6 and 7, showing the .10 7 cash key and .05 sale key in their position illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 and the slide bars lifted by them. I 7.1

Referring to the drawings, the letter A designates a suitable cover and B a base forming a casing for my machine. v

On said base a front wall C supports a shelf 1) on which is mounted a transverse row of vertical tubes E adapted to contain coins of the usual denominations that is, the first tube is'of a size for .50 coins, the second for .25 coins, the third'and fourth for .10 coins, the next two for .05 coins, and the last five tubes are for penny coins, as marked.

The front of each tube at the bottom is cut away laterally at F to form a slot slightly more than the thickness of a coin in the respective tube so that the bottom coin in each tube can be ejected through the slot into an inclined coin chute G at said front-wall C,

from which the coins roll on their edges like wheels to a pan H accessible to the customer whose change is thus delivered tohim. The no side walls-of said chute are spaced apart a distance less than the diameter of the smallest coin. The front edge of said shelf D; is inclined at I partly under thetubes to cause the coins to slip edgewise into said chute down which they roll to the pan. I will describe the first coin tube which is for the 50 denomination and the others are similar but of correspondingly smaller. size.

and adjacent parts broken away to show a flat plate slide J sliclably mounted in a slotted guide K back of the row of coin tubes. The front edge of said slide is curved to correspond with its coin tube, and the rear end has a bar L pivotally or otherwise connected thereto, so as to allow vertical movement of the rear end, which extends back to a supporting rear wall M where said rear end is guarded by a U-shaped loop N Which allows vertical adjustment of the rear end therein.

Each of the other coin tubes is provided with a similar slide bar and cooperating parts as shown in Fig. 1.

"Means to operate said slide bars and slides to eject the coins from their respective tubes preferably consists of an actuating frame composed of a front crossbar O and rear crossbar P connected by sides Q that are slidably mounted in front and rear posts R and S re spectively. This actuating frame is thus slidably mounted with its front bar O above the set of slides ejecting the coins from their tubes while the rear'bar P is adjacent but above the normal position of the rear ends of the adjustable slidebars as shown in Fig.

" 2. The rear bar P serves as a push bar for the slide bars whenthe latter are raised to operative position from thelr normal inoperative position resting on the supporting wallM. lVIeans so to adjust these slide bars at their rear ends will be presently described.

The forward bar 0 of said actuating frame preferably engages the front end of said slide bar so as to return them to normal position when the actuating frame is drawn backward by springs T, for example, connecting each side of said frame to the post S, and tensioned by a forward movement of said frame. Arrows in Fig. 2 indicate this forward movement of the bars 0 and P of the actuating frame. A stop U or other means limits the backward movement of said frame by said springs T.

The means for adjusting the rear ends of said slide bars preferably consists of two banks of levers: One bank composed of levers V preferably pivoted o-n'a horizontal bar W as a fulcrum, and each bearing a designating numbered key. These levers are preferably twenty in number The first key bearmg the No. 5, the next key the No.10, the next key the No. 15,-.and so on up to the 20th key which is numbered 100.

These levers and keys I designate the cash keys, as they are designed to be operated according 'tothe amount of cashofiered by the customer in making a purchase. These levers extend under the first six of the slide bars which are adapted to'eject the coins from the .50 tube, 125 tube, two .10 tube,

two .05 tubes, in making change for the customer. 7 The first lever having the key designated 5 extendsalso under the last'five sllde bars that are adapted to eject penniesfrom the penny tubes and are hereinafter called penny bars.

Each of these key levers is notched upon its upper edge to make raised portions X, or otherwise adapted to engage certain predetermined bars above while avoiding engagement with other bars as will be presently de scribed.

, Referring to Fig. 4 which is taken on the section line 1- of Fig. 1 looking to the rear, the plane of section passes between the cash key levers 10 and 15, therefore showing only the levers designated 5 and 10 of the cash keys. It will be noted from this Fig. 4 that the 5 cash lever is cut out on its upper edge so that when raised to a horizontal position by operating its key, the first six bars will not be engaged, while'the five penny bars will be engaged by said raised portion X and be lifted. Similarly, the cash lever desigcross bar P of the actuating frame as shown in Fig. 8, where their ends are in the position of the bar marked 56. The outer end of said key lever engages a suitable catch to maintain said lever temporarily horizontal. This catch as shown consists of a plate Y pivoted on a rod Z and controlled by the tension of a spring a normally holding it in the position shown in Fig. 4. A notch 6 near the upper end of said plate is engaged by inc the outer end of said cash key lever when horizontal as shown in Fig. 6, and the tension of the spring a maintains such engagement and said horizontal position of the lever till the catch is tripped, as will be presently described. Another bank of levers V is provided adjacent to the cash keys, and this bank bears keys that are marked from 1 to 100, as shown in Fig. 1. That is, the first key is marked 1, the second 2, and third 3 and soon (lack of space to show all this bank of 100 keys makes it advisable to omit those of the keys between 18 and 9a in the illustration, but a sufficient number are shown and presently will be described to exemplify the construction-and operation of my invention). This second bank of levers V with their keys are operated to accord with the price of the purchase and will be described hereafter as the 7 sale key. These sale key levers are longer than the cash key levers as shown in Fig. 1, and are similarly notched to form raised portions X on their upper edges, or otherwise adapted not to engage or to engage the slide bars above them when said levers are respec- I tively adjusted to horizontal position. These sale key levers are temporarily held. insuch horizontal position by spring-controlled plate Y having a notch 5, similar to the cash key levers.

For instance: Fig. 7 taken on the plane 5-5 of Fig. 1 adjacent to the sale key marked 5, shows'said key in its horizontal position and the raised portion X of its upper edge engaging the first nickel bar and raising it still higher than the cash key had raised it in Fig. 6. This further lifting of the first nickel slide bar lifts its rear end above the push bar P, as shown at 50 in Fig. 8. Only the second nickel slide bar, therefore, will be operated by pushing the actuatingframe forward in the direction of the arrows and ejecting the nickel from its coin tube, which is the correct change for a dime received as cash for a .05 sale.

This simple illustration-of a purchase and change made by my machine illustrates the principle :A key is pressed for the cash received; this is one of thecaslrkeys. A key is pressed for the price of the purchase; this is one of the sale keys. The slide bars are suitably adjusted by the cash key and the sale key'just operated, so that the push bar of the actuating frame will act on the proper slide bar and its slide to eject the corresponding change from its'coin tube which change will roll down the coin chute to the pan for the purchaser to pickup.

It will be noted from the above example that the rear ends of the adjustable slide bars normally in inoperative position below the push bar; that upon operationof one of the cash keys some of said slide bars are raised to operative position with their ends inthe horizontalplane of the push bar P; and that by operation of one of the sale keys, one or more/of said slide bars can be further raised so that their ends are above the plane of the push. bar P and are therefore in inoperative position. This second adjustment of the slide bars leaves only the slide bars operative which will give the correct change. The principle above stated has been carefully worked out on various combinations of cash received and sale made, and the correct change is given by my machine as herein described.

Certain points to be remembered are the following: Cash keys always lift the slide bars to operative position.

Sale keys always lift the slide bars to inoperative position,-eXcept the portions of the sale bars extending under the penny bars (Fig. 1), as these penny bars are lifted to operative position by certain sale keys as will he later described.

hen the change is less than .05 only the sale key need be operated. f

Again, that there are two positions of the slide bars which are inoperative: the normal positionwith the bars resting onthe support M,'and the highestraised position when the ends of said bars are above the push bar P, as indicated in Fig. 8.

For example: When cash .25 is offered for a sale of .18, the clerk will push the .25 cash key. Fig. 1 shows this 25 cash key lever as having its raised portion under the slideb'ars for the two 10s and first 5. These three bars, the two 10s and one 5 bars representing the cash offered, are then raised to operative position.

If the price of the purchase is .18, the clerk Willpress the key designated 18 of the sale keys which will liftthe two slide bars controlling the two dime tubes to inoperative position and also raise the first two penny bars to operative position. That is to say, the two dimes have been cancelled leaving the first slide bar 5 still operative and throwing the first two penny bars to operative position. The actuating frame will thus eject a nickel and two pennies, which is the correct change for .25 offered for the article priced .18.

Another example Cash offered .25 and sale of .01. The clerk will press the cash key 25 which will lift the two slide bars for dimes, and the first slide bar for a nickel to operative position. He will then press the sale key marked 1. This key will raise the first 5bar to inoperative position and four penny bars to operative position. The push bar will therefore engage the two dime slide bars and four penny bars making .24, the correct change.

The principle upon which this machine works is therefore seen to be like cancellation,that is to say, the cash key lever lifts the proper slide bars to'operative position. Then the sale key lever lifts one or more of said slide bars yet further to inoperative position thereby concelling them, and when necessary the sale lever lifts the selected penny bars to operative position to give the correct change. For example: Wehave (referring to Fig. 1) Cash received 1.00. Operating cash key 100 raises .50.25.10.10 slide bars and the first .05 slide bar to operative position;

With a sale of .94., operating the sale key 94 will raise still further to inoperative position the .50 slide bar, .25, the two .10 bars (which are thus cancelled), and will raise the first penny bar to operative position. The.

said penny bar and the uncancelled .05bar make up .06 as the correct change in this instance.

The following list shows what slide bars are raised to operative position by mani ulation of the corresponding cash keys; a so the slide bars that are raised further to inoperative position by manipulation of the proper sale keys: and the penny bars that are raised to operative position by said sale keys,-all selectively as predetermined in order to make correct change.

For instance: By reference to the followmg list, if the cashoffered is 1.00, operating nickel tube.

CASH RECEIVED KEYS RAISE '10 OPERATIVE POSITION SALE KEY RAISE TO INOPERATIVE PENNIES POSITION RAISE TO OPERATIVE POSITION Sale 1.00 99 50 10 10 5 l 98 50 25 10 10 5 l l 97 50-.. 25 10 10 5 l l l 96 50 25-- 10 10 5 l l l l 50 25-- 10,- 10 5 49 25. 10 10 5 l 18 25 10 10 5 l 1 47 25 10 10 5 l l l 46 25..- 10 10 5-- l l l l 25..- 10 10 44 25 10 10 1 43 25 10 10 1 '1 42 25-- 10 10 l l l 41 25 10 10 1 l l l l 40 Z5 10 5 39 25" 10 5 .1 3S 25.. 10 5 l l 37 25 10 5 l l l 36 25-.. 10 5 '1 l l l '35 25 10 3-4 25- 10 l 33 25 10 11 1 l 15 10 5 14 1.. 10 5 l 13 10 5" l l 12 10 5 l l 1 11 10.... 5. l l l l 10 10 9 10 1.... s 10 1" 1 7 10 l l l 6 10 l l l l 5 5-- 4 5-- l 3 -1 5 l l 2 5 1 1 l 1 5 l 1 l l If the sale be .52, the sale key (2 will lift to inoperative position the slide bar controlling the .50, two dimes, and the first nickel tubes, and will lift the first three penny bars to operative position. That'leaves the bar controllin .25 and those three penny bars in operative position, so that the actuating frame will eject .28 which is the correct change for 1.00 received and .7 2 sale.

If cash is offered for change merely, without any sale being made, only the cash key representing the cash offered is operated, and then the actuating frame will push out the correct coins.

Thus if 1.00 be ofiered to obtain change therefor without a. sale, operating the 1.00 cash key will. cause coins-.50, .25, two dimes and anickel to be'ejected as the correct change.

It has been tested by frequent examples that the fewest number of. coins to make the correct change will be ejected by my machine. This is proved by reference to the above list and testing it according to the above examples of change made when sales are made, and also when cash is offered for change only without sale.

For instance: 'With cash .50 offered and a sale of .25, a .25 coin is ejected as the correct change, and not tWo dimes and a nickel.

Thus it will be seen that the clerk is not required to solve any mental problem in making change, but has only to operate the key designating the cash oifered, then the key designating the price of the article purchased; then operating the push bar forward will eject the correct change into the coin chute and pan for the purchaser to pick up.

When change is less than .05, it is better to push only the sale key representing the sale. Thus, if .50 cash is oifered for .4? sale, push only the sale key marked 47, which lifts three penny bars to operative position for ejecting .03 correct change. This is more efiicient than to push the cash keymarked which lifts to operative position the bars 25, 10, 10 and 5 (see list above) and then cancel them by pushing the sale key and lifting 3 penny bars to operative position.

By means of this machine the errors caused by careless or inefficient clerks in making change are entirely eliminated. Given the cash and corresponding key operated, and the price of the purchase and corresponding key operated accordingly, the actuating frame with its push bar will eject the correct change without any other thought of the clerk. Such a machine in use will therefore allow the employment of young clerks who would otherwise be a source of loss and trouble to their employers, but can make correct. change by my machine as well as older and higher priced clerks. This employment of younger clerks and elimination of errors in making change by them according to'the-usual method, will work to the advantage of employer and employee when my machine, as above described, is used. Greater efficiency at less cost, by the elimination of disputes with customers and loss of trade by incorrect change, is also obtained.

In the long continued operation of my machine,should any of the coin tubes have all their coin ejected, the fact will be at once notified to the clerkthrough the following safety device,viz: A vertically disposed bolt 03 mounted in the shelf forming the bottom of each coin tube and supported by a spring 6 tending to raise its upper end above said shelf when the pressure of the last coin in said tube is removed by ejecting it. The

"slide bolt 05 will be raised by said spring into the tube adjacent and prevent further forward movement of the, slide bar and actuating frame.

This checking of the actuating frame would cause the clerk to investigate the cause of such checking and find that one, at least, of the coin tubes has been'emptied of its coin; a further supply of coins to that tube must then be made.

' 0f the raised portions, since if the levers had 7 their raised portions all of the same height,

the levers that are nearer the pivot connection of the slide bar, would raise the slide bar higher than would be necessary in operating the sale keys. Similarly in operating the cash keys, the levers are preferably adjusted by the raised Y height towards .therear as shown in Fig. 8 in the left bank, so that the slide bars are properly adjusted with their rear ends in the horizontal plane of the push bar P, and hence in the desired operative position.

It will alsobe noted that the cash levers and sale levers when their to bring them horizontal, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, have their bottom edges, or the outer end of their bottom edges, in the same horizontal plane so as to be engaged by the notch of their respective plate. The forward movement of the actuating frame releases this trip catch. by means of a cam fon the side frame Q, which cam then engages the keys are depressed top of the trip plate and depresses it, a sim-,

ilar cam f engages the cash trip catch. The push bar having engaged the ends of the slide bars still holds them up in the forward movement, and the slide bars that have been further raised to inoperative position will then simply rest on the push bar P till the operative slidebars have ejected their respective coins from the coin tubes, and the frame has been returned to its former position, carrying back with itby engagement of the cross-bar O with the front ends of the slide bars as shown in Fig. 2the slides and bars that have just previously been pushed forward to eject their respective coins. Other suitable trip catch may be employed.

The banks of cash key levers and sale key levers are supported in their normal position preferably by means of a longitudinal partition or rests g and 9 under the respective banks or sets of levers, as shown in Figs. 47-8 inclusive.

The cover 1 preferably covers the opera tive mechanism except the outer ends of the cash levers and sale levers, the keys of which are exposed for manipulation similar to the keys of a typewriter. Also the casing at the rear has an opening as shown in Fig. 2 for the rear end of the actuating frame with its push bar and the rear ends of the slide bars, although such casing may be otherwise arportions of increasing f ranged if desired. As thus shown, the main portions of the mechanism are protected from dust and accidental damage.

The coin tubes are preferably open at the top as shown, for the ready filling of the magazines formed thereby, but may be otherwise if so desired. 1

The key indicating 100 in the bank of sale 7 ples above described. In this exempliiication, however, I have fully described its principles and preferred construction, but wish to be understood as broadly claiming the construction carrying out the principles stated above.

I claim:

1. A coin changer comprising a series of coin tubes, slide plates and slide bars operatively connected to said plates at one end and adjustable at the other end, means to support the rear ends normally in inoperative position, levers mounted below said bars and having their upper edges notched to avoid engagement with certain slide bars when raised and to engage certain bars in said raised position, trip means to maintain said levers temporarily in raised position, and actuating means slidably'mounted adapted to engage predetermined slide bars, substantially as described.

2. A coin changer, comprising coin tubes, slidable plates cooperating therewith to eject coins therefrom, slide bars pivotally mounted at their front ends to said slide plates respectively, means to support them at their rear ends in a common horizontal plane, horizontally slidable actuating means normally inoperative on said slide bars, a set of levers mounted below saidslide bars at different distances from thepivotal connection of said slide bars and slides and of increasing depth of bar corresponding to said distance and adapted tojengagepredetermined slide bars andraise their rear ends to operative or inoperative position respectively with regard to said actuating means, substantially as described. I

3. A coin changer comprising coin tubes, horizontally slidable plates co-operating therewith to eject coins therefrom, slide bars horizontally disposed and pivotally connected at their front ends to their respective slidable plates and adjustable at their rear ends, bars mounted above the normal horizontal position of said slide bars, a-double bank of key levers mounted below said slide bars and adapted. to raise predetermlnedslide bars,one bankof levers being adapted to raise predetermined slide bars to operative position, and the other bank being adapted to raise predetermined slide bars to inoperative position with. respect to said actuating. means, means to maintain said raised levers in. engaging position temporarily till the opset of notched key levers mounted below saidslide bars at various distancesfroni the pivotal oonnection at their front end and adapted 'toengage and lift predetermined slide bars to operative and to inoperative position with respect to said actuating means when said levers are horizontally disposed,

a trip catch temporarily maintammg said operated levers, and engaged slide bars in their raised position, camnieans on said actuating means for tripping said catch when operating sa d actuating means, and a spring.

tensioned by forward movement of said actuating means adapted to return the actuating means and said operated slidebarsto their normal position, substantially as described.

5. A coin changer comprising coin tubes, coin-ejecting means, co-operating with said tubes,'vertically adjustable operative means connected to said coin ejecting means respectively, actuating means for said operative means, and key-operated levers below said operative means adapted to engage said operative means selectively according to the cash received as represented by the key-lever operated, and other key-operated levers adapted to engage selectively said operative means according to the sale as indicated by the latter lever operated, substantially as and for the purpose described. 7

6. A coin changer comprising coin-ejecting means, slide bars pivoted at one end and vertically adjustable at the other, key-operated levers mo'unted'below said slide bars and representing the cash ofiered from .05 to .95 inclusive and having notches on their upper edges to clear predetermined slide bars and having raised portions increasing in height towards the rear adapted to engage predetermined slide bars by said raised portion and lift said slide bars to operative position, and another bank ofkey-operated levers designating sales from .01 to .99

slidable actuating means for said slide a bank of inclusive having notches and raised portions of increasing height ofv upper edges towards the rear adapted respectively to clear and to engage predetermined slide bars and raise the latter further stantially as described.

7. Acoin changer comprising ooin-ejecting means, horizontal slide bars pivoted at one end to said coin-ejecting means and vertically; adjustable at the other end, a bank of keyoperated levers mounted below said slide bars and representing the cash offered from' .05 to .95 inclusive and having notches on their upper edges to clear predetermined slide bars;-

andalso raised portions adapted to engage other predetermined slide. bars and lift the ends of said latter slide bars to operative position opposite actua-ting means, means to selectively engage and inclinesome of said 0-peratively disposed bars to lift their ends to inoperative higher position, and slidable actuating means at the ends of said slide bars to engage the ends of slide bars that remain inoperative position and operate them and their respective coin-ej ecting means, tially as described. I

8. A coin changer compirsing coin-ejecting means, horizontally disposed slide bars pivoted at ne end to said coin-ejecting means and vertically adjustable at the other end, a bank of key-operated levers mounted below said slide bars and representing. the cash offered from .05 to .95 inclusive and having 'to'inoperative position, subsubstannotches on their upper edges to clear prede .01 to .99 inclusive having notches and raised l portions adapted respectively to clear and to engage predetermined slide bars and raise the ends. of the latter to higher inoperative position, and horizontally slidable actuating I means at the ends of said slide bars to engage the ends of slide bars that remain in operative position and operate them and their respective coin-ej ecting means, substantially as described.

Is testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

I CHARLES B. MAY. 

